diff --git a/openmc/mesh.py b/openmc/mesh.py
index 734d04da42..196d7f6c00 100644
--- a/openmc/mesh.py
+++ b/openmc/mesh.py
@@ -1940,7 +1940,7 @@ class UnstructuredMesh(MeshBase):
         return cls(filename, library, mesh_id, '', length_multiplier)
 
 
-def read_meshes(elem):
+def _read_meshes(elem):
     """Generate dictionary of meshes from a given XML node
 
     Parameters
@@ -1950,11 +1950,11 @@ def read_meshes(elem):
 
     Returns
     -------
-    OrderedDict
-        An ordered dictionary with mesh IDs as keys and openmc.MeshBase
+    dict
+        A dictionary with mesh IDs as keys and openmc.MeshBase
         instanaces as values
     """
-    out = OrderedDict()
+    out = dict()
     for mesh_elem in elem.findall('mesh'):
         mesh = MeshBase.from_xml_element(mesh_elem)
         out[mesh.id] = mesh
diff --git a/openmc/settings.py b/openmc/settings.py
index ff35a90cfb..39329a69ee 100644
--- a/openmc/settings.py
+++ b/openmc/settings.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from openmc.stats.multivariate import MeshSpatial
 from . import RegularMesh, Source, VolumeCalculation, WeightWindows
 from ._xml import clean_indentation, get_text, reorder_attributes
 from openmc.checkvalue import PathLike
-from .mesh import MeshBase, read_meshes
+from .mesh import _read_meshes
 
 
 class RunMode(Enum):
@@ -1762,5 +1762,5 @@ class Settings:
         """
         tree = ET.parse(path)
         root = tree.getroot()
-        meshes = read_meshes(root)
+        meshes = _read_meshes(root)
         return cls.from_xml_element(root, meshes)